Soaps
by Kanan
Summary: Something is amiss, and where is Watari's smile? It is a day the doctorscientist could never forget, but that no one else knows about. Not for long, though! Tatsumi is determined to find it out, as they watch soap operas!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Yami no Matsuei. Uh, and… Oh-no! Have I run out of lame jokes to tell! NOOOOOOOOOO!

Hisoka: Wierdo…

Kanan: Oh! I like you too, Hisoka! –kisses his cheek-

Hisoka: -falls over-

Soaps

The day was long and tiring. Tatsumi was still in his office after-hours (which was about 7:oo in the evening), writing a report on the events of the day. As expected, Hisoka finished his work early and napped most of the day on the sofa in the conference room. Tsuzuki and Terazuma got into another argument and a window was broken during their spat.

'Thank goodness it was only one.' The shadow master thought.

Also, Wakaba turned in a rather large stack of paperwork, but most of them had large drawings of Terazuma on them and needed to be redone. And then, there was Watari… so far, he had blown up his lab twice, broken a coffeemaker, somehow managed to make Konoe throw his back out, and who knows what else he could have gotten through with, unnoticed. Once again, Tatsumi had his own coffeemaker. And now, now Tatsumi could hear the man in question swiftly make his way to his office wearing those damn-loud shoes of his. Tatsumi set down his pen and straitened his glasses, as his door was slammed open.

And there stood the cheery blonde, mad-scientist he knew so well. There was a crack in his glasses, burn marks on his cheeks, not to mention the few highly-noticeable strands of blonde hair that were singed; and then there was his large, goofy grin that never seemed to disappear. After a moment of silence, Tatsumi cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses again.

"…Can I help you?"

"May-be!"

"Can I or can't I?"

"I'm sure you're physically capable!"

Tatsumi sighed. It had been a long day, and he was in no mood to humor Watari when he was in a playful mood. His games constantly left Tatsumi drained and annoyed.

"What do you want?"

"To go to your place!"

"No."

"Oh, please? A special 'Days of Our Lives' is airing tonight, and you know very well that I don't have a TV!"

"Do I look like I care?"

"Oh, PLEASE, Tatsumiiii?"

An hour later, Tatsumi was sluggishly tidying up his workspace before he left the office. Sighing, for the umpteenth time, he drug his feet to Watari's lab, having lost the game from earlier, as usual. He adjusted his glasses and put on a strait face, to hide his exhaustion as he knocked on the doorframe. He heard a voice usher him in, and he entered and followed a small sound to the back room.

"Watari, are you ready to go?"

He suddenly stopped and stared at his friend. He knew what the sound was now- scissors. Watari was carefully trimming small patches of his hair that had been burnt during the day, or were otherwise ruined. Though, as Tatsumi noticed, no matter how much was cut off, the blonde's hair always stayed at the same length. Also, Watari had put on a spare pair of glasses, and had changed the bandages on his hands. What stuck out most, however, was the disheartened look upon the younger man's face. In fact, he had had that look a few times that day, when he thought no one was watching. Watari was hiding something; though he was good at it, nothing got past Tatsumi.

Though, the look changed. With one last trimming, Watari smiled and ran his fingers through his hair to admire his work before turning to Tatsumi.

"Ready!"


	2. Chapter 2

By the time they got to the apartment, Watari's smile had returned to its proper place, and the man plopped down onto Tatumi's couch and turned the tv on. The show was just starting. Tatsumi stood at his dorrway, unsure if he should enter, but when he did, his first stop wasn't the living room. He rounded the corner and disappeared into the kitchen. If this was a special night for soaps, Tatsumi would need a lot of coffee.

Knowing his friend's schedule when it came to movie nights or so forth, Tatsumi arrived in the living room with a soda and popcorn for his friend. Then, he went back for his coffee and sat down on the far end of the couch. The show went on, and Watari's emotions changed with every scene. First, Watari would be mad, and then sad, and during one part, he had an eyebrow raised. He couldn't get what was going on.

"Tatsumi, what does that mean?"

"How should I know?"

Things went on like that for a while, until a dramatic scene came on. It was in the hospital. A young girl was in bandages on the bed, in a coma, and the intensity of the moment struck a chord in Watari. He had tears in his eyes and was practically bawling. Tatsumi wasn't even phased.

"Oh, no… she may never come out of that coma! Tatsumi, do you think she'll ever ocme out of it?"

"Maybe, maybe not." He said, not even caring.

"You're so mean…!"

"No, I'm realistic. This is only pretend, remember."

"But it seems so real! Hug me, Tatsumi!"

But as Watari lunged forewords, Tatsumi stood up. Watari landed on his face in the couch cushion and Tatsumi calmly walked back to the kitchen. When he came back, however, the scene had changed on the television, but Watari's face retained the same sad look he had worn in his lab that evening. The girl had apparently awoken from her coma, (as if he cared), but Watari looked so sad, as if it weren't just a show. Watari had the look of a man who had just lost someone special. The show ended, and Tatsumi was still staring at Watari, whose expression hadn't changed. Slowly, Tatsumi rounded the couch and sat by his friend.

"Watari? Hey…"

He set his hand on the blonde's shoulder, but when he looked at him, Tatsumi wished he hadn't. Watari's eyes were red and almost puffy. His glasses didn't sit strait on his nose and soon, a tear rolled down the slender cheek.

"Yutaka…"

Watari snapped out of it, and niffled as he tried to wipe the evidence of the tear away.

"I'm sorry, Tatsumi… the show is over now, so I'll leave you in peace…"

Watari stood up, but Tatsumi's hand on his wrist stopped him and pulled him back onto the couch. Watari refused to meet his gaze, but Tatsumi still ouldn't let him go.

"Yutaka, what is wrong? You've had that sorrowful look upon your face all week."

"It's nothing…"

"Nothing wouldn't make you cry like this…"

Tatsumi reached up and moved a strand of curvy hair out of the man's face and wiped away another tear.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"…The girl… in the coma…"

"You're saying this is all about some show? Yutaka, I told you. This isn't real."

"Real…"

"Why do you watch sad soap operas if it makes you so sad?"

"I suppose… more than liking them… I'm used to them."

"What do you mean?"

"My life was a soap opera, Tatsumi…"

This time, Watari wasn't trying to hold back his tears. He just let it all out, and Tatsumi pulled Watari close.

"Shh… tell me…"

"A girl…"

"What about her?"

"When I was alive, I was still a scientist… but I wanted more. It took so long to invent something, and I couldn't affect actual change…"

"So you started to become a physician, correct?"

Watari weakly nodded his head, not moving away from his friend.

"When I was a med student, I was also helping out at a hospital… It was a normal day, and when I was walking by the child health care corridor… I heard someone crying. I went to where it was coming from… but when I got there, I found a little girl."

"I see… Go on."

"She was crying… because she was in pain. She had a bad heart, Tatsumi; a very bad heart! She had to get a transplant…but she was scared!"

"A heart transplant is a scary thing… What happened next?"

"I talked to her… she told me that her parents were killed in an accident just after sh was born, and it was only her and her brother left. But, he wasn't able to be there when she had to get the transplant! She was scared…"

Watari sniffled again, and finally sat up. His hair was a mess, and so was the rest of him. Tatsumi wanted him to stop, but he needed to talk.

"What happened, Yutaka?"

"…Somehow, I felt bonded with this girl… we talked and she hugged me… I was hooked after that, Tatsumi…! While her brother coldn't be there, I volunteered… I held her tiny hand the whole time..! She was shaking as she slept… She was in pain! She much pain…!"

"She didn't go into a coma, did she?"

"No… even worse! …She survived… She was doing just fine… her heart wasn't reacting negatively, and she was due to leave the hospital. And then, as her bother came to take her to the car… she hugged me. I adored that little girl and her strength… She was strong because I was there…"

"…"

"I watched them go, Tatsumi. I watched them get into the car and she waved as they drove off, and then…"

Watari was breaking down again.

"Yutaka…"

"W-when they were going down the next street, a car went strait at them, and hit the car on the passenger side. Time moved in slow motion… I couldn't breathe…! When my feet would move, I ran to the scene… God, there was so much blood…! Both of them died right there… That little girl's eyes were wide open and staring at me… and her little hand was reaching out to mine…"

Tatsumi had no idea, and so he didn't know how to comfort his friend. So, he did the only thing he could do. He reached out and pulled Watari to him again, and held him tightly. They stayed like that the entire night, just talking and crying and comforting.


	3. Chapter 3

It was raining. Luckily, it wasn't a merciless downpour, but it was enough to set a gloomy mood, and after the night spent crying on Tatsumi's couch, it was just bad enough to make the little trip unnerving. Still, Tastumi had managed to convince him to go, and now, he was standing in the cemetery.

Watari looked behind him at his friend, hugging the bouquet of flowers he had brought. The rain trickled down upon him, and it made his hair droop with horrible moisture. He didn't want to be there alone, and thank good ness Tatsumi was there. He assured the other man that he wasn't leaving, and Watari got back the nerve to turn back around.

The graves he stopped at were small, but lively. Plastic flowers had been placed at the sites, but they drooped, indicating that no one had been there, recently. Slowly, he knelt down to fix them, and he sadly rose his head to look upon the names carved onto the tombstones. Again, he could see both of their shining faces, and then… after the crash.

Watari quickly turned his head away. he couldn't bear to see their mangled forms in his mind again. The scientist just couldn't bear the weight of the lifeless stare of the girl he ad helped save, and the brother who loved her so much, and thanked him. A wet hand softly fell on his shoulder, and Watari looked up. Tatsumi was trying to be comforting, and he helped keep him dry, by holding the umbrella over him. Sighing, Watari looked back to the graves.

"Young ones… I'm sorry I've not been by in a long time. Wherever you are, I hope you are both well."

He dind't know what else to say. He looked back to Tatsumi, silently pleading for them to leave, but the older man shook his head.

"…It's been so long… but, I've never forgotten what happened. You two… neither of you deserved what happened. I mean, it just wasn't fair, either! I mean, you were both… so young! And your sister had just gotten an operation! She was given another chance to live… and it was suddenly taken away from her! …"

Watari hit the ground in front of the graves, and his tears mixed with the rain. If he hadn't also been sobbing, no one would be able to distinguish the two.

"I'm sorry… I guess it just wasn't meant to be. You were wonderful children… so strong and full of life. You wanted to become doctors, just like me! I remember you saying that… well, I hope you get your wish. Maybe in another life. I really don't know what became of either of you. Still, I wish you the best… rest in peace. Both of you… We may meet again, someday."

Watari wiped his eyes and placed the bouquet across both graves. And suddenly, he felt lighter on the inside. He had finally said what he meant to, and now, he was able to smile. Tatsumi sensed his friend's shoulders relax, and he offered a hand up. Watari took the umbrella with him as he walked back towards the car, but Tatsumi stayed back and said a silent prayer, himself. Finally, they had reached the best part of a sad soap opera… the ending.


End file.
